Michel Hourcastagnou 1955 - 2006 death of arguably the best player ever in Kent loses one of its best this country, Michel Hourcastagnou. ever players Play at the Kent vs Nord Maritime contest at Michel‘s The whole of the pétanque world in the home club of Plough and Chequers stopped in respect UK was shocked to hear of the premature when news came through during the first round of games on Saturday 12 August. (see pages 4 and 7). Match Reports and Results - Page 2 Obituaries- Page 6 Clubs of Kent œ Page 8 Kent teams for1 Brean - Page 11 What‘s On - Page 14 The clubs represented: Croydon, P & C, Old Sheaf, George, Villager, Hartley, Pen-Y Coed, GRFC Match Reports Gravesend, Tovil, Bat & Ball, Brighton & Hove, also the Victorians from Essex. Medway Despatch Open Report: Mick Weston Doubles Kent County Singles Sunday 2nd July 2006 at Lordswood Championship The Medway Despatch Open Doubles was hosted by Friday 14th July 2006, The George, Meopham The Lordswood Petanque Club on Sunday 2nd July 2006. On a steaming hot Sunday morning thirty one Twenty four players battled for the County Singles teams including raiders from Brighton (Ray Agar and title at the George on Bastille Day. The evening was partner Bob) and Epping took to the terrains to sunny (until dusk that is) but surprisingly chilly, compete for the first prize of £100 donated by our leading to much raiding of car boots to retrieve generous sponsor Medway Despatch. It was also whatever extra layers could be found. very good to see a mix of men and women players, a junior and a couple of minors in the guise of Daniel Leagues of 3, played to 9 to allow for the relatively Rudden (15) Ryan Rudden (12) and Kayleigh limited time allowed for an evening event, quickly Mannering (10) taking part. divided the entrants in to 3 knockout pools, main, plate and consolage. This ruthless format meant any The morning competition was split into eight leagues error or poor performance was soundly punished. with the first 16 going through to the Main competition, the next 8 into the Plate with the The knockout stages started with games to 11, with remainder going into the Consolage. The variety of the semis and finals being played to the familiar 13, pistes, particularly the temporary shale surface on allowing a little more room for games to develop. pistes seven to eleven, gave rise to some interesting There were lots of close games and some impressive challenges throughout the day. individual performances. The Consolage was won by K&G (Kev and Gary) In the semis of the consolage Jes Paine beat Sam from The George after a hard fought game with The Littley, with Colin Senneck avenging his wife‘s Wood (Kieran Maggs and Chris Watkins) from defeat at the hands of Robert Cooter. The final Lordswood. The final of the Plate was between the however saw Colin‘s run of luck come to an end with Mum and Son team Worry Em (Fay Golder and Scott Jes securing victory 13 œ 8. Ashby) from Tovil and George and Frog (Keith The plate saw two very close semis, between Martin Atkins and Jean-Louis Guiot) from The George and Eggleton and Dave Lavelle, with Dave winning 13- Hartley respectively. After a very competitive match 11, and Barry Soilleux seeing off the challenge of played on the challenging surface George and Frog Dean Ashby 13-9. The most one sided of the finals ran out winners. saw Dave get the better of the —interesting“ George In the Main competition Rejects (Matt Horrigan and pistes to beat Barry 13-4. Kevin Spillett) beat Nuff Skills (Russell and Geoff) In the semis of the main Geoff Booth beat Matt from Bat and ball 13-10 and the Victorians (Patrick Shrimpton 13-7, and Trevor Glenn put his home and Ravi) the raiders from Epping beat Sylvan Borsi knowledge to good use to beat Steve Brown 13-5. and Rashid Hammache from P & C 13-8 to go That home advantage proved decisive in an extremely through to the final. The match was fiercely tight final, with Trevor finally beating Geoff 13-12, contested with both pointing and shooting skills of an after several shot cochonnets to retain the title he won exceptionally high standard being displayed by both last year œ will he be able to complete the triple next teams keeping the small but select and knowledgeable year? If so, does he get to keep the trophy? group of spectators enthralled to the end. The game progressed point by point until reaching seven- all The organiser of the day (me) would like to extend when the Rejects managed to surge ahead to 12 œ 8. special thanks to Lesley Boycott, who having come But surprisingly Matt missed two shots, his first along to watch was press-ganged into making the misses of the game, and the Victorians dragged 24th player when an accident on the A2 prevented themselves up by their bootstraps to bring the game further arrivals and presenting the organiser with an back to 12 œ 12. The final end by the Victorians was unfortunate number of players. Lesley was a little scrappy and the Rejects ran out deserving unfortunately knocked out in the first round of the winners and claimed the Medway Despatch Open plate after good performances in the league stage. Doubles 2006 title. Report: Annette Eggleton PAGE 2 Alex James) and The Rams (Jeff Mitchell and Rob -arriers Ricard Cup Hope) taking well over an hour. The Rams won eventually 13-12 after many dead ends and single Sunday, 23rd July 2006 Tovil Working Men's Club point ends. The final was between The Rams and Los The recent hot spell of weather coaxed out 17 teams Cianos (Dave and Lynne Ciano) from Hertfordshire. (some over 50) to compete in the Ricard Cup. It was a close game proceeding one point each end until at 5-5 The Rams scored two points to break The Main Competition final was played between The away and in the following end scored 6 points for a Deaf Heads (Harriers) - Neville Hurren and Terry well deserved win having not lost a game all day. Jones and YPC (The Towers, Essex) - Dean Little and Keith Flack. The game was short-lived, Terry and Six teams all from Crowborough but not all from Neville being outplayed by the younger Dean and Crowborough Club went into the Plate competition. Keith who won 13-1. The 2 of us (Dorothy Bickford and Martin Gordon) who had not won a game in the morning did not lose The Plate Final was another "old versus young" one in the afternoon to win the Plate with Dyson affair. Les Etoiles (Old Sheaf) Rob Harvey and John (Gladys Tester and Joan Fread) being the runners up. Holbourn -v- The Flumps Matthew Whatley and Steve Brown. Some good shooting by Steve made The trophies were presented by Crowborough Mayor sure of their win 13-3. Mick Hall who enjoyed watching the afternoon games and even took on a Crowborough member and Clubs Represented: Old Sheaf, Harriers, came out the winner. Crowborough, Tovil, Villager, Plough & Chequers, Report Tom Waldron Bat & Ball, Fighting Cocks, The Towers (Essex), The George. Kent County Pairs Match Summary: Championship Main Competition Winners: YPC (The Towers) Dean Little/Keith Flack Sunday August 6th 2006, Tovil WMC, Runners Up: The Deaf Heads (Harriers) Neville Hurren/Terry Jones 20 Teams from more than 10 clubs contested the County Pairs Championship at Tovil, Maidstone. Plate Winners: The Flumps (M. Whatley/S. Brown) Runners Up: Les Etoiles (Old Sheaf) R. Harvey/J. Through to the quarter finals of the main were 3 Holbourn teams from Plough and Chequers and 1each from Fighting Cocks, Bat and Ball, Harriers, Gravesend Report Denise Williams RFC and home club Tovil. Crowborough Town Results Semi-finals Kris Smith and Geoff Booth beat Dave Trophy Chalkly and Michel Hourcastagnou David and Sunday 30th July 2006, Crowborough Margaret Baxter beat Richard Spillett and Roland Crowborough Pétanque Club held its annual Town Jones Trophy Doubles Competition in aid of the Mayors Charities, on the 30th July 2006. Fourteen teams Final Kris Smith and Geoff Booth beat David and competed for the trophy in ideal weather for playing Margaret Baxter 13-12. pétanque. This was a fine win for the young team because they The morning soon turned bright with plenty of had to overcome two very strong teams to get to the sunshine and a gentle breeze and not as hot as recent final (in their Quarter Final they beat the defending days. The morning was rather long with two leagues champions, Dave Hurren and Matthew Horrigan) of five and one of four. There was some very good while in the final they were up against last years play in the league games with many hard fought runners up who thus retained their runners upship! games finishing 13-12. Only two teams finished the Plate Semi Final Jes Paine and Martin Pennell beat morning‘s play without a win and only two fannies. Rob Harvey and John Holborne. Roy Pemberton and Eight teams went into the main competition including Kierran Maggs beat Kevin and Gary Atkinson one team from Crowborough P.C.Ton Two (John and Final Roy Pemberton and Kierran Maggs beat Jes Molly Brooker) who got knocked out in the semi- Paine and Martin Pennell 13- 10 finals The other semi-final was a very long hard fought game between Bat and Ball 66 (Jes Paine and Report: David Baxter PAGE 3 Fred Booth KPA versus 12 Kent 13 Geoffrey Booth 2 7 Robert Booth Nord Maritime Jean Michel Duhautois 13 St Pol Frederic Duhautois 2 6 Saturday 12th August 2006 at Plough & Chequers Philippe Wemaere Mark Cooter The announcement of the unexpected death of 14 Kent 10 Corrine Cooter 2 6 Michel Hourcastagnou combined with the Glenys Johnston unseasonable weather cast a dampener over this Jacques Outteryck A.B.B.